Five TwentyFour
by TamerTerra
Summary: Fifteen Hundred years ago, the Xiaolin and Heylin forces were balanced. Why aren't they now? Blame Wuya and that blasted dragon! ChaseWuyaDashi triangle. Guan and Bean will turn up in due course. Ch11: Dashi worries, Wuya returns, Spicer offers aid.
1. Slay the Dragon!

The Dragon of the Wind flew over the battle scene, then landed.

"Ring of the Nine Dragons!" he shouted, splitting into nine, each clone holding a copy of the Sword of the Storm. He drove the Wind Shen Gong Wu into the Earth, calling down nine bolts of lightning to enclose the rogue bull Dragon that they were supposed to be slaying.

"Earth!" cried the Dragon of Earth, laying her hands on the ground to summon up a rock wall to enclose the beast at the same points as the Wind Dragon's lightning. The Wind Dragon jumped backwards as one person again.

"Ice!" yelled the Dragon of Water, flooding the cage and freezing their enemy. The stone wall crumbled.

"Now what?" asked Wuya.

"Dragon steak?" suggested Dashi.

"Don't even joke," said Chase, shuddering.

"Oh please," said the Dragon of Earth, summoning her Heylin powers and throwing a ball of green light at the frozen neck. A flash, and then the Dragon's head was separate from it's body, cut in a neat line.

"Wasn't the point of this 'slay the Dragon' exercise to practice our Elements?" Dashi asked her. "Not your whole Magic... thing."

"Not your Silly Gong Wu, either," she retorted.

"Everyone, look!" Chase was standing bythe Dragon's Cave, looking in.

"Treasure..." Wuya's eyes temporarily reformed themselves into hearts as she ran over and peeked inside.

"Dragon Treasure? Isn't that supposed to be...dangerous? Whoa." The Wind Dragon whistled in admiration of the Dragon's stash. Wuya took a few steps inside.

"Look at all that _Gold!_" she said. "And Jewels! And-"

"Books!" yelled Chase, enraptured.

"Weirdo" muttered Wuya.

"We should just leave this all here, and go back to Master Ko," said Dashi, following them into the cave while looking warily at the walls of treasure.

"I vote we stay here the night!" yelled Wuya, while poking at a large jewelled sceptre.

"I second that motion." said Chase quickly, his nose deep in a leather-bound book.

"But-

"It's decided, Dashi," Wuya said as she passed byhim to look at a sparkling something on another wall. "And besides, you might find something that will help with your Shen Wu."

"You think?" he asked, brightening a little.

"Dragons are known for hoarding dangerous stuff, after all."

"Then why are we staying here?"

"We're Dragon Apprentices, aren't we?" she answered. "We can take anything that this _lair_ can throw at us!" She threw herselfup onto a pile of gold coins, and then slid down to whisper conspiratorially in his ear. "Besides, do you want to be the one to get Chase to move now? Because I don't."

He looked at her for a moment, but she didn't blink. "Fine," he said after a pause, and then wandered over to look at a pile of furs. Wuya smiled to herself, and sat down on a gilt throne to watch him.

&o&o&

ANs: All of the Dragons are about the same age as the regular characters are when they are Apprentices. Okay, maybe a little older. Not the same age as in 'the present day', at least. Also, they wear the Heylin uniform (not known as that at this point) - the predominantly black with red cuttings that Omi _(mumble mumble mumble) _- that's basically the colours turned the other way for those that haven't seen season 2.5.


	2. Dojo

Dashi woke up suddenly to a cracking sound near his head. He rolled over onto his stomach and searched for the source, eventually focussing on a pile of egg-shaped rubies. He got up onto his knees and crawled over to look at them, realising that one of them wasn't just egg-shaped… It was an egg. A Dragon Egg. He lifted up a staff-like Shen Gong Wu to smash it, but as his hand came down feminine fingers grabbed his wrist. He looked up into Wuya's eyes.

"It's hatching," he whispered, helplessly.

"Of course it is" she said, watching the egg.

"It's going to hatch into a _Dragon_. Let me smash it before it does!"

"Don't you think that a Dragon could come in useful?"

"No!"

"If we raised it to help us…"

"Then it would turn on us, no, _you_, as soon as it was full grown!"

"Probably not." It seemed that their bickering had woken Chase. "If you raise a magical creature like a Dragon, they stay loyal."

"And I suppose that you read this in a _book_?" asked Dashi sarcastically.

"Maybe." Chase looked back at the leather-bound book that he had been reading earlier, a plan forming in his mind.

"Well, books don't always tell the truth."

"And scrolls do?" Wuya asked him, a smile playing on her lips.

"It's not the same."

"Of course not." She moved around to Dashi's side, closer to the hatching egg. What do you think of the name 'Dojo Kanojo Cho'?"

"I don't." said Dashi.

"It could help with your Shen Wu research?"

"How would it do that, Chase?"

"Um…"

"Because Dragons always know about Mystic objects. It's what they _are_" finished Wuya.

"They must learn it from other Dragons" Dashi guessed.

"Most of them never meet another Dragon in their lives – or at least, not until they already have a hoard of treasure." Wuya grinned.

"None of that talk" said Dashi, wincing. "And anyway, no! This Dragon will grow up to be evil, just like every other Dragon that we've faced. We can't take that risk!"

The egg gave a shudder, and a claw cracked through the ruby coloured shell.

"Wait," said Chase in alarm, "If it's going to breathe fire then it needs to be born in fire!"

"Why would be want it to breath fire!"

"So it can defend itself, foolish Dashi." Wuya said in exasperation.

"What, so it can defend itself from _us_?"

"Why not?" Chase threw some Heylin magick onto a cobweb so that it burst into flame, and dropped onto the egg.

"Not evil fire, at least!"

"It won't hurt" Wuya said, waving his words away. Another claw emerged from the burning red shell, and then a small sticky green snout.

"Aw, isn't it adorable!" Wuya exclaimed. The boys looked at her. "What?" The Hatchling gave a little cough of soot, she suppressed another squeal at the cuteness. It dragged itself out of the remains of the shell, almost directly under Dashi's nose, and looked up at him short-sightedly. Dashi moved away quickly.

"You'll be sorry when it attacks you, you know" he said, defeated. Chase and Wuya slapped their hands together in triumph.

&o

Later on, when the Dragon hatching was settled in Wuya's backpack, Chase picked up the leather-bound book, and opened it to the page that he had seen before.

"Immortality potion…" he said to himself.

&o&o&

Ans: This is the first fic that I've been typing as it goes, instead of writing it, then going through it, then typing it, then checking again. Is it alright? I know that they were a few typos in the last chapter…

Oh and in case anyone (thank you for reminding me, WiNdGoDdEsS688) was confused as to which Dragon was which, Dashi is Wind, Wuya is Earth, and Chase is Water. Later on I may introduce the Yin/Yang/Balance idea, in which case remember that Yin is the (Passive, Feminine) darkened half of the YinYang symbol, and Yang is the lighter half.

Oh, and I don't need a Fire Dragon. I'm going for the Earth Sea and Sky elemental class.


	3. Clifftop antics

Dashi looked over at Wuya with growing irritation as they walked on back to the Dragon Temple. She kept making cooing noises over her shoulder at the sleeping dragon in her bag, and it irritated Dashi even more that Chase seemed to be oblivious, his nose deep in the Leather-bound book.

"Will you be quiet?" he spat, eventually. The dragon had woken up by this time, and Wuya was holding it in her arms. She looked shocked by the outburst.

"What?" she asked.

"You know," he said. "Stop talking to that dragon. It can't understand you, anyway, so why annoy everyone else?"

She smirked. "Not jealous of a baby dragon now, are we?"

"No! What gives you that idea?" he yelled. She smirked a little more, a dimple forming in her cheek.

"Chase doesn't seem to be annoyed. Are you, Chase?"

Chase kept walking with his nose in the book, not appearing to have heard her.

"Chase!"

He looked up suddenly, as though waking out of a trance, stopping walking abruptly. "What?" he asked.

"Do you find my talking to Dojo annoying?" she said slowly.

"Who's Dojo?" he asked dimly.

"The Dragon, the Dragon!" she told him, impatiently. "Dojo is the Dragon's name!"

"Which Dra... Oh, that Dragon. Right." And with that, Chase stuck his nose back into his Leather-bound book.

"But do you find... Oh, never mind." She wrapped the Dragon around her neck, and strode on. It went back to sleep on her shoulder. Dashi grinned, and matched her increased pace. At some point, Chase realised that he was being left behind, and took his nose out of the book long enough to run and catch up.

"Why did you bring that book with you, anyway Chase?" Dashi asked, when they had stopped for a breather at the top of a cliff.

"It's... Interesting" he said. "It's about Dragons."

"Can I see?" asked Wuya, stretching out her hand to take the book from him.

"No!" Chase stood up hurriedly. "I mean... No. I don't want to lose my place!"

"Alright..." Wuya looked a little confused, as if she would say something else.

"Is that a berry-bush that I see?" said Chase, looking for an escape. Dashi watched in amusement as Wuya turned away from Chase while he investigated the berry-bush.

"It's not even Berry season yet," she muttered, "so he's going toget a belly-ache." The Dragon poked his nose out of the backpack, sniffing, and she regarded it. "What's Master Ko going tosay about you?" she wondered aloud.

"Not let it stay, if he has sense!"

"Why I... Okay, that's it Dashi!" Wuya stood up, and held out her hand, threateningly. "I know that this little jaunt was to practise our Elements, but I'll fight you anyway!" She closed her eyes. "Heylin..."

"Wind!" cried Dashi throwing her backwards before she could complete her attack.

However, he had forgotten that they were standing at the top of a cliff.

Wuya's arms slowly began to windmill, her eyes opened suddenly as she found that there was no longer Earth beneath her heels, just her toes. "Dashi..." she began to yell in anger as she tipped backward, only one foot staying on the ground as her body plunged over the edge. There was a flurry of dust, and Dashi caught her in his arms. In other circumstances it would have been called a 'moment', but as it was, she slapped him. Wincing, he pulled her forward from the precarious position that he had thrown her into.

"Don't you ever do anything like that again!" she shouted.

"What, I caught you, didn't I?"

"I think that that was the problem." Chase commented drolly.

"I could have saved myself, you know!"

"I'm sorry!" Dashi flung his arms over his head to ward off her wrath, and peeked out at her." She sighed, and picked up her bag.

"Don't worry about it Dashi, we all know that you're stupid."

"What?"

"She's letting you off of the hook, don't spoil it" said Chase, elbowing his companion in the ribs before following Wuya down the hill and leaving Dashi with the Dragon.

"That Wuya..." The Wind Dragon shook his head. "And don't look at me like that!" he told Dojo before setting him on his hat and following the others.

&o&o&

ameeraimanlin: My email is in my profile. That is how you talk to me about reviews to other stories. Jade, Lale, WiNdGoDdEsS, Isabella and Yo Fue'- Glad you like it!


	4. Wudai Apprentices

When the group got back to the Dragon Temple, it was market day in Atlantis. They were sent off to do their usual chores, after they had put down their travelling things, and Wuya had appealed to Master Ko as to whether or not the baby Dragon could stay. To her surprise, and Dashi's disgust, he was very keen on the idea - after all, the Crane temple was home to a number of the water-birds, and the Leopard temple kept a few of the big cats; Why should the Dragon temple be any different?

After their work was done, it was time to train. The three students lined up, and Master Ko approached them.

"When you went out to defeat the Dragon, you were instructed to practise your Dragon Elements. Did you succeed?"

Dashi was the first to jump up. "I called down lightning to stop it in its tracks!"

"Well I froze it!" contested Chase.

"Very good. You can both use the secondary forms of your elements. Wuya?"

"I called up a wall of rock." She said, trying to ignore that Chase and Dashi were trying to outdo each other again.

"So you still haven't mastered the secondary form of your element?" It was more of a statement than a question, yet Wuya answered anyway.

"No, Master Ko."

"But that wall of rock was _perfect_!" Chase cut in. "Not a gap - if she hadn't done it then I wouldn't have been able to gather enough water in one place to freeze the Dragon."

"But if my lightning hadn't stopped it, then she wouldn't have had time to trap it in a rock prison..." moaned Dashi.

"If you are so well accustomed to working _with_ each other, perhaps we should see how you are at working _against_ each other." Master Ko threw both Wuya and Chase a pole. "Use these. No Elemental or Heylin extras. Gong Yi Tempai!"

Wuya stood awkwardly with the pole for a moment, but at Chase's first strike, moved it up to block him, and then swung the bottom half down to knock out her opponent's feet. Chase jumped; she swiped again, and then a third time, before he jumped back out of range. A few generic parries, she swung down in a circular movement toward his head, and his pole came underneath hers and struck her jaw. She stumbled backwards, and he followed through with a move that ended in his kneeling over her, the tip of the pole beside her head.

She blinked up at him. "You can get off of me now."

"Sorry," he stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and stood up.

"Well done, Chase. Now for today's lesson...

"We will be working on combining your Heylin and Elemental abilities to create elemental forms. These forms could be your greatest allies in battle - should you practise shaping and controlling them."

"That sounds good, but... How?" Chase asked, confused.

"That, you must find out for yourselves" he said, walking across to a mat to meditate. He passed a hand quickly through the air and opened it to reveal a small fire demon, that blinked and then vanished into a puff of smoke. Wuya sat down and closed her eyes, closely followed by Dashi. Chase sighed and imitated them.

Presently, the ground began to shake. Chase jumped up, and Dashi opened his eyes quickly. Master Ko watched calmly as what seemed to be a head rose you of the earth, followed closely by a pair of shoulders, a torso, hips and legs. The great rocky eyelids opened, and green fire burned in the sockets. Wuya slowly opened her eyes.

"Did it work?"

"_You_ did that?" Chase was shocked. Wuya frowned, trying to regain her concentration, but the golem fell apart into smaller boulders. Dashi grinned.

"I see now!" he said, standing up. "You just use your element like normal, and then..." he spread his arms out, air started circling around. He refined the flow so that it went down, up and side-to-side in a pattern, and eventually the air breezed in a path similar to the blood around the body. Wuya bent down to scoop a handful of sand from the ground, and threw it at the apparition. The sand was picked up into the wind and carried around the dust devil, so that it was almost possible to see it. However, like Wuya's golem, it soon fell back to nothing.

"You did not combine it with your Heylin abilities, Dashi." Master Ko commented. Dashi scratched the back of his neck.

"Oopsie."

Chase stretched up his arms. "Heylin Water!" he cried, experimentally pulling some water from the pond. He swirled it in the air for a little, and then formed it into a hand that imitated Chase's own. The water fell back into the pond.

"I can't. I don't know how" he said, confused.

"Do not trouble yourself, young one. There is a reason that I needed you all to try, even though I knew that one of you would fail.

"Each one of you is aligned to an aspect of the great Balance. Chase, you will one day be the Yin Dragon of Water, Wuya, you shall become the Transitional Dragon of Earth, and Dashi -"

"Is left to be Yang Dragon of the Wind?" Wuya frowned sceptically. "The world is doomed."

"Do not be so hasty in judgement. Your strengths have influenced my words to you. For instance, Wuya, you are the best at combining Heylin Arcane magic and Xiaolin Elemental Magic, though your martial arts leave much to be desired. Chase, you have made excellent progress in Physical combat, yet you cannot combine magic with your element. Dashi is unwilling to use Heylin magic at all, yet can control his Element with ease."

"Master Ko, why are you telling us this now?" Wuya was curious.

"Two reasons. Firstly because you are ready to ascend to the Wudai level, and secondly..." His expression darkened. "Secondly, because I fear that fate will not allow me to tell you tomorrow."

(Insert evil cliff-hanger here)

Thanks for the reviews, folks! (_bumps story back onto first page_)


	5. Dojo's Ailment

Just as Master Ko finished speaking, the wind began to pick up. The three apprentices, or rather, Wudai Dragons looked at each other, worried.

"What do you-?" Wuya started to ask, before feeling a puff of smoke blow against her back. She sat shock still as the two boys and Master Ko jumped up into fight ready positions. "What is that behind me?" She asked, a tremor of fear in her voice. Chase' mouth was dropping as he searched for an answer. Wuya broke her terror, dove and rolled to the side just as the Dragon blew a hot breath of flame and soot at where she had been sitting. She gasped when she saw it. "Dojo?"

The now large metamorphosed Dragon jabbed his head forward and snapped his teeth, Chase grabbed Wuya's arm and dragged her back, as she was mesmerised, still shocked at seeing her little baby Dragon trying to eat her.

"Go down and warn the village!" Master Ko flung out a hand. Chase nodded, and he and Dashi started off at a run. "You go too, Wuya. I will be fine," he said more kindly as she hesitated. The girl took a few steps, but just then the mad Dragon dived forward, wrapped the Fire Master in his coils and took to the sky.

"Master Ko!" she cried. "Heylin Earth!" The ground heaved up, carrying her with it. "Dojo, give back Master Ko!" The Dragon swung around and opened its mouth, revealing the fireball stewing within. Wuya continued on towards it, not sure what she would do; the flames began to spew towards her, but she urged the earth beneath her up more, until a form battered her to the side, off of the hill that she had made, and out of the path of the Dragon's fire.

"Let go of me, Dashi!" She struggled in the Wind Dragon's arms.

"Don't you realise that you would have just gotton yourself killed?" His eyes carried a strange expression. "That wouldn't have helped us _or_ Master Ko!"

Chase, after dashing through the closed market and warning the villagers that were still there, ran back to the Temple where he could see Dashi flying about, dodging fireballs and keeping the Dragon distracted from the inhabitants of the ground. Suddenly, a Dream-like state came over him, and he walked over to where he had left the Leather-bound book. As he opened it onto a page, an odd voice rung in his ears.

_"Give me what I need, and you can read the Book."_

"What?"

_"The answer lies within. Your Yang Chi is what we need, and you can save your home and imprison the Dragon if you listen."_

"And if I don't?"

_"Then the world will fall into One Thousand Years of Darkness."_

"What do I need to do?"

_"You've already done it..."_ The indecipherable characters that had covered all but the Headings of the Book rearranged themselves, and Chase found that he could understand them. Underneath the page that had been titled with 'Lao Mang Loan' was a recipe, and the page depicting a caged Dragon held a spell. He began the incantation.

Wuya pushed against Dashi's arms, trying to make him let her go. "Please Dashi; we need to save Master Ko!"

"We can't help him now!"

"I refuse to believe that! Dashi!"

Dashi sighed, and clenched a fist. "Heylin Wind," he said quietly. Wuya's eyes widened and she clutched her throat before falling limp. Dashi relaxed his hand to release the air back to her lungs, and she began to breathe again. "I'm sorry." He dropped down slowly toward the ground, just as a purple light began to surround Dojo the Dragon...

Chase snapped the Book shut and uttered the final syllable of the incantation with a flick of his wrist that ended in his palm slapping down on a wooden crate. The purple light began to squeeze the Dragon smaller, and it roared a roar that dwindled down into a squawk as Dojo regained his small form and was sucked into the crate. Chase threw the lid on and it was sealed with purple light. The Baby Dragon curled up and went to sleep. Dashi ran up to where the green-haired boy was standing, just as he fell forward and landed on his side, unmoving. Dashi stopped short and set Wuya down on the ground before kneeling down to shake him.

"Chase!" he yelled in his ear. "What happened?" Chase' eyes flickered.

"The book..." he moaned. Dashi leant over him to pick up the leather-bound book and was about to open it when a hand came down on his, holding the book closed. "Not a good idea." Chase grinned for a moment, and then his eyes closed. Wuya sat up, holding her head.

"What just..?"

"Good question." Dashi stood up, tucking the leather-bound book under his arm. "Chase did something to shrink Dojo back to normal size, but I have no idea what it was."

Wuya jumped to her feet. "I was going to ask why you felt the need to KNOCK ME UNCONSCIOUS!" With the last, she grabbed his collar and shook him. "What possessed you?"

"You were going to get yourself killed!"

"Was not!"

"Yes you- Whoa!" he cried, as the Earth began to shake. "Wuya! You broke Atlantis!"

"I did?" Dashi pointed to the hill that she had risen to carry her into the sky. "I did that?"

"Yes!" Dashi stumbled, and grabbed hold of her shoulders to keep himself from falling. "Now MAKE IT STOP!"

"I don't know how!"

"What do you mean that you don't know how?"

"Just fly!" she screamed.

Dashi stumbled over to his backpack, and pulled out a green Thing. "Here, it's called the Longi Kite, grab Chase!" he said, throwing it to her and leaping into the sky. He flew straight up to view the damage to the surrounding countryside, not hearing Wuya's cry of "Longi _what?_"

Dashi saw the shaking towns far below, the villagers escaping from their houses, the flocks of birds and shoals of fish that were fleeing the island. Then he realised: The island was sinking! He looked around, wondering why Wuya hadn't followed him, when Chase appeared at his side.

"How did you...?"

"You left your Jet Bootsu down there," Chase explained. "And by the way, Wuya is not going to be happy when you get back down - she's never had to use one of your Shen Gong Wu before, and she doesn't know how to work them."

"Does the island look... strange, to you?" Dashi's fears were confirmed when the water began to flow up the beaches on the southern slope.

"It's... sinking? But how is that possible?" Chase had come to the same conclusion.

"It must have been when Wuya was chasing Dojo... But anyway, what can we do about it?"

Good question, thought Dashi as he gazed over the sinking land.

_(Fade out)_

Sorry bout the cliffie, the chapter was getting on the long side. --;; How was that, blitz? Thanks for the reviews, guys!


	6. The Giant Bubble

"What can we do about it?" asked Chase.

Dashi looked over the land as parts of it fell into the sea. The grand marble tower of the East cracked and fell, dropping its treasures into the depths.

"Dashi, how can we help? The people down there can't escape the island or they'll get sucked under! And if Wuya doesn't know to stop it from sinking..."

Dashi frowned. "Then we have to keep it together until it's finished sinking." He turned toward the other boy. "Your element is Water, can't you, I don't know, keep the water away from the island?"

"I don't-

"That's it!" Dashi punched his palm, turning to face the other boy. "If we can stop the air above the island from leaving when it sinks, then I have some Shen Gong Wu that allow people to breath Water..."

"A giant bubble? Are you serious?"

"Don't you think that it's crazy enough to work? If we work together, then we can do it!"

"But for how long?" Chase sighed. "But we don't have a better plan, so count me in."

Wuya stared up into the sky. "What are those boys doing up there?"

"Dragon X Kumé!" the warriors of Wind and Water cried in unison. _We might not have Master Ko here to teach us anymore,_ thought Dashi,_ but we can still save the island. I know we can!_ Chase hovered a little higher than Dashi, as he would need to push the water upward and keep it above the air. Slowly, they both began to spin in opposite directions.

"Dragon X Kumé!" cried Wuya. She didn't know if it would help, but if those two idiots were doing what she thought they were, then they would need all the help that they could get.

Waves crashed against the cliffs, spiralling upwards as they did. The wind blew around; the seawater flooding along the beaches in the south halted and rose up into a wall that pushed against the invisible barrier; the earth shook as the island sunk.

The boys spun faster, the water rose. Wuya stared up in horror as the walls pushed inward, threatening to break over the island and wash everything, and everyone, away. She ran. Through the village and up onto the hill that had boasted the great marble tower in the east until a few minutes previously, she ran. On her way, she knocked over a spice-cart. "Sorry!" she cried, picking herself up and taking off running again. Reaching her destination, she slowed and walked at the wall of water, stretching out to touch it.

"You!" The voice behind her made her turn. It was the owner of the cart. He was fat and slightly balding, and the dash from the village to the top of the hill had obviously taken a lot out of him. He stood, wheezing. Wuya stood still, waiting for a reprimand. It never came. "You're one of those Dragon Warriors, aren't you?"

She nodded affirmation. "Yes."

"What are you doing about this?" he thundered. "What is happening to the island?" Wuya wasn't quite sure how to reply. "Is it really sinking?"

Sinking. That would explain the shakes and water rising above them.

Just as she had sorted this new idea into her head, the water flowed above them, from each 'edge' to the centre, covering it over like an upturned bowl dropped into the pond. They were now trapped.

A shock wave passed through the island, knocking Wuya off of her feet. She looked up through the shining wall, seeing darkness spread from the surface, feeling something in her blood identify it. "The Volcano," she breathed. Yes, she thought, the shaking of the Earth must have brought the molten rock to the surface.

She looked back to the floating, exhausted boys and realised that they would not be able to hold the air down for much longer. As if to confirm her thoughts, a bubble escaped Dashi's hold and streamed recklessly to the surface.

She turned back to the volcano, and the wall of water. More permanent arrangements must be made.

* * *

Tamer: I've been trying to continue this chapter for a few days now, but I can't seem to do it. So I'm making this the end of the chapter, and Wuya can go running around some more in the next one.

Thanks for the reviews folks - Gosh Sei, I hope that this is good enough... Oh, and cdfe88? This is kind of a prequel to the show, so it doesn't really make sense to do a prequel... Everyone else, thank you for reading this - I hope that you're enjoying it.


	7. Wuya Finally Gets It Right

"I think it is sinking," Wuya said as calmly as she could. She touched the water, hoping that to do so wouldn't break the fragile spell that the boys were weaving. The spice merchant had deferred to her as some kind of authority, so it wouldn't do to show weakness.

"So what are you going to do about it?" the man exclaimed.

Blowing the air from her nose in irritation at the interruption, she tried to order her thoughts. "I'm going to seal the water out," she said. "With the volcano."

"And how do you propose to go about doing that, eh?"

"I'm going to... use my secondary element to control the lava, and then..." She frowned, trying to think of how her plan could work. "And then I hold it there until it sets."

"What if you get knocked out like him?" The merchant thumbed over his shoulder to where Chase could be seen falling from the sky.

Wuya's heart skipped a beat, and she turned back to the water with determination. "Then we all die," she said irritably. "Which _will_ happen anyway when Dashi gives up, so let me get on with it!" She closed her eyes, mapping the current path of the underwater volcano's expulsion. When she thought she knew what she had to do with it, she focussed on the rock-content of the lava and dragged it with her mind. Behind her eyelids she noticed the light dimming.

The ordeal seemed to last for hours, and there was no way to tell how much time had passed when she came back to conciousness. It was as black as pitch, and she was sitting on the ground with a hand on her shoulder and glass of fresh water pressed to her lips. She drank, thanking whatever deities happened to be around that she hadn't been killed.

Her hearing was still fuzzy, but she heard someone calling: "Wuya!" Oh. That was her name. And it was Dashi's voice, she realised after thinking about it for a while.

"Is she all right?" he asked, sounding panicked. "She's never-" His voice stopped, and then there was the sound of a match, smell of sulphur, and light. "Wuya?" he asked, kneeling beside her. She gazed in his general direction, concentrating more on breathing than anything else.

"Don't think I can move," she said slowly, taking inventory of her limbs. They seemed safe enough for the moment.

There was the sound of a throat clearing behind her. "I'll leave you to it, then," a voice said. Spicer merchanter person, that's whose it was. The arm supporting her slid away as Dashi picked her up. Wuya tried to remember what had happened, and a picture came to mind.

"What happened..." she started.

"That's what I want to know!" Dashi exclaimed.

"...to Chase?" she asked, and shifted a bit to get more comfortable as Dashi carried her back to the village. There was some light down here too, but the Temple, on the other side, was glowing.

"Oh." Dashi looked suitably embarrassed about interrupting. "He's fine. I don't know what he did to get that evil dragon in the box, but-"

"And Dojo!" she added hastily.

Dashi scowled. "Did you miss the part where that_ thing _ate Master Ko and tried to kill _us_?" Wuya remained silent after that, thinking, and by the time Dashi had reached the Temple she was asleep again. He laid her carefully on her pallet next to Chase, and then lay down to let himself recover, vowing at the same time to stay awake and look after them.

&o

They did not wake in the morning, for there was no morning.

The darkness still covered everything when Dashi was shaken awake by a pale-looking Chase, and the small flickering candle that he had found somewhere didn't give much light.

"Why is it dark?" the water dragon asked, sounding worried. "What happened?"

Wuya snored in the background as Dashi tried to collect his thoughts. "I _think_ that she covered the bubble over with rock. Have to ask her when she wakes up," he whispered back.

"What are we going to do now? We can't stay here now, can we?"

Dashi usually had an answer for everything, but this time he didn't. Nothing like this had ever happened to them before - even when the three of them had been caught in a cave-in last year, the way out had been fairly clear. This time, they were sunk, and literally too.

&o&o&

&o&o&

A/N: So sorry for not updating this in ages - to tell the truth I've had a bit of a writer's block and couldn't continue from the last bit of the last chapter. The bit I had always seemed too fluffy for this fic... I hope I've got a compromise between writing sugar and not writing here by writing _around_ the magic part. Heh.

I've also learned not to give 'hints' in Author Notes. When I come back months afterwards I have no idea what I meant by them. --;;

Crit me, baby!


	8. Dashi Doesn't Suspect A Thing

Chase strapped the pack securely to his back. It only contained spare clothes, food and the very few items that he could call his own, but he didn't want to take any chances when he didn't know what would happen.

It couldn't be called the next day, of course. It was still very, very dark.

"Eye of the Dragons!" Chase heard Dashi yell from the other side of the Temple. It was followed by an explosion and loud swearing from the same source. Chase squinted. There was some light around - people had lit lamps in their houses by now, and the island wasn't so spread out that the light wasn't shared. Chase didn't remember his night-vision being this good before, but their last night-mission had been weeks ago. Easy to forget.

He walked in the general direction of the voice with a hand outstretched. Their home had not changed since he had arrived ten years ago at the age of six, but there were funny tricks of the eye that made near walls look far off. The heel of his hand hit a wall, jarring his wrist. He squinted at it, trying to figure out where the space had gone.

After a few moments had passed, he shook his head. The darkness was making him sleepy, he reasoned. That must be it. That must be why his vision was swimming so, and- He pitched sideways, clutching his head. His eyelids alternated between blinking at the ground and squeezing shut as his burning eyes were unable to deal with the meagre stimulation afforded by the outside.

"Chase? Are you all right?" Wuya's concerned tone grated against his headache. "Dashi!" she called, even louder. His eyes tight shut still, her cool fingertips touched the underside of her chin and pulled, making his head rise. "Open your eyes," she commanded. Wordlessly, he tried to focus against the blinding pain. His eyelids flickered and tried to close again, but he forced them open.

Before he had time to focus on her face, Wuya gasped. "Don't say anything to Dashi," she hissed, speaking on instinct. Chase let his eyes close again, and knew no more for a long while.

&o&

Dashi turned away from the scene, lacking the heart to ask after what they weren't going to tell him. He had come when called for, but now he felt betrayed and of a mind to run back and pretend he hadn't hear her yell for him. _It wouldn't be the first time,_ he thought bitterly. He'd always suspected that the other two dragons might be closer with each other than he was with either of them, but he'd never had any proof... He'd ignored the feeling, but now it bubbled up like bile.

Footsteps made him jump around guiltily.

Wuya took one look at his face, and pulled him into a brief hug. "There's no need to be _scared_, Dashi!" she said playfully over his shoulder.

"I'm not!" he protested.

"Of _course_ you're not," she replied, pulling away to reveal a grin. "Now, help me carry Chase to the sleeping quarters. He's ill."

"I'm really not," Dashi said, following her around the corner. He swept his eyes over Chase's body, looking for any sign of injury. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Wuya admitted. "I found him on his hands and knees, and then he just keeled over." She turned Chase over, then manoeuvred him into a sitting position. "You take his legs," she ordered, hooking her arms around his waist from behind.

Dashi's mind raced through a list of of potential causes. "The magic he did today better not have hurt him," he said, and heaved. Chase groaned as the pair lifted his willowy frame into the air, and Dashi couldn't be sure whether the pursing of Wuya's lips was due to effort or The Secret.

"I hope not," she said when sure that they weren't going to drop Chase. They began to move toward their room.

Had Dashi imagined the note of fear in her voice? Was he imagining the way her eyes studied him, as if testing his worthiness to be told whatever it was? He really, really hoped that he was. Or did he? If he _was_ imagining it, it meant that he didn't trust his team-mates. If he wasn't, Wuya was hiding something. Dashi bit his lower lip, trying to decide which was worse.

"Careful!" Wuya exclaimed as Dashi almost backed into a wall. She did her trademark little sigh-through-the-nose before adding something. "Are _you_ all right, Dashi? It's no good if you fall ill too. We've got to find a way to get everyone out into the fresh air."

If he'd had a free hand, Dashi would have used it to cover his face. _You're the one that makes the plans,_ were her unsaid words. He had all of the burden and none of the perks of being a born leader. "I'll scout it out with the Serpent's Tail in the morning," he said.

Wuya laughed. "For all you know, it _is_ morning," she pointed out.

"Fine, I'll do it as soon as we're done here!" _Maybe it was the loss of sense of time that knocked Chase out - it's threatening to knock me out now,_ Dashi thought.

They had arrived at their destination. "Make sure you check the stability of the sea-bed around where we are," Wuya said. She indicated that Dashi put Chase's feet on the mat as she lowered his torso more gently. "I don't want to move things around if it'll rob us of a passage."

"You have a plan?" Dashi asked, surprised.

"You doubt me?" she asked, pouting.

"Yes," he said.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Anyway, undersea tunnels are fairly common. If we can break into one that emerges at the mainland or another island, without flooding or caving in the tunnel, it should save us a lot of work. We could _walk_ to safety." She considered it a bit more. "Which means that the villagers can get out too - I know Chase was worried that they might not without special powers." Looking down at Chase now that she had mentioned his name, she brushed the hair away from his face with her fingers.

Dashi just stared at her, dumbfounded.

When she looked up again, she was smiling broadly. "What, do I know something you don't? How rare!"

"Maybe _you_ should do the scout-out," Dashi said, still staring. "You might know what you're looking for better."

She stood up, and made a pouting pose. "But I did all the thinking work!"

Dashi grinned, and stood too. "Yeah - I never listened to my father when he told me to let someone else take credit for an idea if I didn't want the hard work, so you have to deal with it too."

"Your father is a businessman."

"You say that like it's an insult!"

"That's because it _is_ an insult," she told him, and then grinned again. "And just think - you'd be a businessman too, if you hadn't been born with powers and sent to train with us instead!" Wuya laughed at the idea. "Just think - _you_, wearing fancy silk and visiting important people with _manners_ and things!"

"You don't think I could pull it off?" he asked, feeling slighted.

Wuya had started to walk away, but she stopped at his words and didn't speak for a long moment. "You could if you wanted to," she said slowly. "But I don't think you'd want to."

Dashi stood, quiet, but then tried to laugh off the atmosphere that had suddenly fallen over them. "What kind of answer is that?" he asked.

She looked back at him, one eyebrow curved suggestively upward. "A true answer."

Dashi decided not to follow when she continued walking. He didn't know if he could handle it. When had she started changing, in order to be like this now?

&o&o&

&o&o&

A/N: This is the second time this week that I've written a viewpoint character as trying too damn hard while still being conflicted. Hope you liked! (Tell me so, if you did! Hint.) And you can thank my worries over the Cambridge application process for the 1000 words of this that I wrote this week – I'm so jittery about it that I have to kid myself that I'm doing something while shamefully procrastinating on school work. Gah.

Happy New Year!


	9. Or Maybe He Does Suspect Something

Disclaimer: I don't really think that this needs to be said - you _are_ intelligent readers, after all, but: my values are not necessarily my characters values. Wuya and Dashi in particular have very different ideas of what 'safe' is, and it's irrelevant who I agree with, if anyone. So if a character advocates something that you find distasteful, don't go flaming me about it, okay?

&o&o&

Wuya turned to make sure that Chase was still asleep before continuing to paw through his things. Her official story was that she was looking for her hairbrush (which _always_ turned up in Chase's bag), but really she was keeping an eye out for the Dragon-Book. After what she had seen earlier, she wanted that thing out of his hands, preferably permanently.

This couldn't be thought a case of post-magic tiredness any more. No - what she had seen when Chase collapsed proved that something more sinister was happening to her dear friend.

She turned over his formal robe and put it aside. The book simply wasn't there. Strangely, none of his possessions seemed to be in their usual places, and some of his clothes seemed to be missing... She sighed, and started to put the things away again. Where could it be? She didn't dare to hope that he'd gotten rid of it himself - he'd seemed too possessive of it when they were walking back from the other side of the island.

Brushing Chase's forehead with the back of her hand to check his temperature, she studied his face. With his eyes closed, he looked the same as he always did - paler probably due to the exertion, but not noticeably different in any other way. _Too cool_, she noted, and let her fingers drift toward a pulse-point on his neck. _Too slow._

As she examined him, Wuya noticed Chase' eyelids begin to tremble. She whispered his name to guide him back if he was waking, but he shifted and settled again. Resisting an urge to check his pupils, she stood and left him to sleep, taking her candle with her.

It was as she was walking back to join Dashi that it occurred to her to look back where Chase had fallen. She ran there, trailing hot wax, eager to find-it-and-pretend-she-hadn't before Dashi started asking questions. He was so suspicious of that sort of thing, and if he knew about this it was sure to make him worse about it - an 'I told you so' of no small proportion.

The storeroom was tidy, as usual. Barrels of rice stood against one wall; smoked meat and fish hung from the rafters. And a small leather bag had been thrown haphazardly into a drying rack.

She approached it, cautious of any dark-brand magic defences, put down her candle and looked the bag over before undoing the clasps. It was of the same make as the ones they took on missions, and tied to the straps was the Good Luck charm that she had made for Chase a few weeks before.

A wrapped bundle near the top smelt like pork, which caused Wuya to frown. Chase was a vegetarian - any suggestion of his eating meat tended to make him feel ill. Dashi had learnt that early on, and had used it to tease the new boy (whom he had seen as a rival). Poor Chase had refused to eat anything after _that_ incident, until he had relapsed so far and become so weak that it became a choice between trusting the food they gave him or starving to death.

_So why would there be meat in his bag?_ Wuya wondered. Underneath the food package were some of his clothes, and then a snake-like rope that she recognised as one of Dashi's Shen Gong Wu. It wrapped itself around her arm when she reached for it, and she spent a panicked few minutes trying to dislodge it before she realised that it was defending the object of her quest.

A good smack and a curse later, the Shen Gong Wu was lying obediently on top of Chase's second-best robe, and Wuya was opening the Dragon-Book. She barely had time to watch the cryptic letters rearrange themselves into characters she understood ("_You who read this, know your-_") before her shadow fell against the far wall, making her turn to see where the sudden light was coming from. She hastily stuffed the book back into the bag.

"Dashi!" she said, knowing that she wasn't hiding her crime very well. "What brings you here?"

"I was looking for you," he said. He ambled closer and knelt beside her, the hand that wasn't holding the lantern stuffed deep into his pocket like usual. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, just packing," she said lightly, pulling the bag's drawstring to hide the contents. She saw his eyes pass over Chase's clothes, and bluffed, "You haven't seen my hairbrush, by any chance? It's not in here, or with Chase's other things..."

His eyes returned to hers, searching for something, and she trailed off in response, feeling more by the warmth in the tips of her ears than sight just how close he was. He seemed to feel it too as, after a moment, he averted his gaze. She smiled, tilted her head to the side and leaned forward back into his line of sight, playing with him.

When he was just starting to turn red at the behaviour, she closed the distance along with her eyes, and kissed him. He jerked backward at first, but quickly got the idea of how he was supposed to reciprocate. Silently, she applauded herself for her distraction.

She smiled at him when she sat back again, but he looked mostly flabbergasted. "What was that for?" he asked.

"I felt like it, and you looked like you needed cheering up" she said with a shrug, but countered the carefree style by turning her face to the side, looking at him over her shoulder, and batting her eyelashes. "Should I not have?"

"No!" he said quickly. "I mean, yes. Er, no, er..." Turning redder still, and looking down at his lap in embarrassment as Wuya's grin kept getting wider, he finished lamely with, "I didn't mind," in a small voice.

The lantern burned brighter for a moment, almost as a reaction to his words, and Wuya noticed the odd silveriness. "That's not a normal lantern," she commented, forgetting about her pervious action like it was just another dead-end conversation topic.

Dashi looked up, startled by the sudden change of subject so soon, but quickly recovered and began to enthuse. "It's my newest Shen Gong Wu - I'm calling it the Chi Lantern at the moment, because-" he placed his hand on a pane of glass and the light went out, leaving them with Wuya's flickering candle "-if you activate it in the presence of living people, it absorbs a little bit of their chi and lights up. See? Chi Lantern!"

The lantern immediately re-lit itself, brighter and yellower than before. "Isn't that dangerous?" Wuya asked, alarmed at the thought of her chi being stolen and burnt away.

Dashi handed her the lantern. "You can take it back," he offered, and tried to reassure her. "It isn't like a candle - chi just glows when it's held in there."

Wuya put her hand on the glass, discomfited, but felt better when the lantern's hue returned to that it had had when Dashi brought it in. It didn't hold to go messing around with things like that, no matter what he said... But now that she looked properly, the remaining light didn't look like a flame at all. The glass itself could be the source, and it was almost pretty with the way it seemed to dance for her.

Clearing his throat to get her attention, Dashi tried to get into a less intimate frame of mind. "But I was really finding you so that we could start this scouting mission."

"Oh?" Not really playing attention to him any more, Wuya watched the lantern.

"Well, you know what you're looking for, so if I show you how to use the Serpent's Tail you can go and-" Wuya still wasn't listening, he could tell. "-look for it."

"Fine," she said absently.

Dashi groaned and took her hand as he stood, trying to drag her up with him. "Come on! It's not like we have a deadline, but we've got to look like we're doing something about this whole situation!"

Wuya remained on the floor, but finally looked up at him. "I'll just finish here, then I'll come with you," she said, and shook her hand from Dashi's grasp to pick up Chase's things.

"Should I help?" Dashi asked, feeling as though he'd been dismissed.

"No, it's fine." She didn't turn back to look at him, so Dashi just sighed and left.

It occurred to him when he was in the corridor that the kiss-thing might have been The Secret - what Wuya had told Chase not to tell him about. That would be good, maybe, it if was. Wuya was big on spur-of-the-moment things, but if that had been something she had planned to do... He grinned happily, and whistled as he went to find the wanted Shen Gong Wu.


	10. Chase, Awake! Fine, don't

After Wuya had packed up the bag just as it had been, minus the Dragon-Book, she decided to leave it exactly where she had found it. If she took the bag back to their room and the book was found to be missing, he would naturally ask about it, and that was to be avoided. Chase wasn't stupid.

She hid the Dragon-Book inside her robes for the walk back, one arm across her stomach to hold in place, the other cupping the base of her candle. She hoped that she wouldn't encounter Dashi again until _it_ was properly hidden, and so walked quickly, practically running. When she got to her sleeping place, heart racing, she quickly undid her sash and made the book's transition from under-blouse to under-pillow as short as possible, watching Chase's closed eyes to make sure he didn't wake.

The Dragon-Book sparked as she removed her hand. "You leave him alone," she hissed at it. "We've got things to do, and we need him well for them so stop it, whatever you're doing!" She felt foolish, for a moment, but then it sparked again, more subdued, and Chase sat up with a cry. Wuya shoved the pillow down hard on top of the Dragon-Book. "Chase?" she asked nervously, and crawled closer to him. "How do you feel?"

Chase took a deep shaky breath. "Like I tried to lift the sea into the air, and then it all fell on me." He grinned. "But we're not drowned, so I suppose that didn't happen?"

"Not in so many words." She smiled, relieved that he was at least awake. "You should rest for a while longer, though - we'll need you strong if we try to make a passage." The bad light made it hard to see his eye colour, so she picked up the candle to bring it closer.

He jerked back. "What are you doing?"

"Checking something. Hold still." She peered at his face, looking for the sign she had seen earlier. His pupils narrowed as the light got closer, but that was a good thing. She sighed in relief. "Looks like you've recovered."

Chase squeezed his eyes shut. "Except now you've blinded me," he said, and began to consider his symptoms. "I don't have the headache I had earlier..." he started.

"How did you seal Dojo into that crate?" Wuya suddenly asked, beginning her interrogation.

Chase blinked. "There was a spell in the book I found in the other dragon's lair," he said. "At first I couldn't understand the words - there were titles in Chinese, but nothing else was - but then it said something and I suddenly could." He shrugged. "Then I did the spell, and _then_ the island started shaking."

"It said something?"

"It was like a voice in my head. Why are you asking me, anyway?" Chase looked at her curiously. "And why did you tell me not to say anything to Dashi right before I blacked out?"

She looked away, bringing her knees up ready to stand. "You stay here and rest - I need to go and see what needs to be done to get us out of here." She started to leave.

"Wait!" Chase cried, scrambling up to try and catch her. "What's going on? Why aren't you answering?" He tripped over the blanket as he moved forward, but Wuya caught him under the armpits before he could hit the floor.

"Later, I promise," she said, feeling bad for it. Maybe would she would explain - but only _after_ examining the book.

She hoisted him up high enough to hug, and he took a while to find his feet again. "Maybe I do need to rest some more," he admitted, wrapping his arms around her waist for support and casually kissing her cheek. She stepped back when he was balanced again, and he sat back on his pallet. "Make sure you call if you need me," he called after her, his eyes starting to close already.

&o

"How did I do this again?" Wuya asked, holding the wriggling Shen Gong Wu with both hands in an attempt to stop it from escaping.

"Just say its name, and you turn into a ghost," Dashi said, hovering over her in case she let go.

"What was its name again?"

"The Serpent's Tail. Ready?"

"I'll never be ready," mumbled Wuya, but she got a better grip on the Shen Gong Wu and prepared none the less. "Serpent's Tail! Ahh!" It dragged her now-ghostly-self into the air, but it did obey when she tried to pull it downwards, resulting in a very ungracious dive into the ground.

Once underground, the Serpent's Tail started to behave itself, allowing her to direct its movements. She held herself still for a moment to probe the ground with her element, unsure of how she would find anything. Perhaps it would be clearer if she could look at the bubble from the outside? She tried to find an end to her elemental feeling, sure that the sea would be there.

There was a great heat in one direction, a source of earth-power that left Wuya feeling dazed by its effect. Everything seemed... _more_, in this form. Greater reach, greater sense... It might be because she was 'in her element', of course. She struck away from the heat, aiming for the sea. When she reached it, it was like a candle pinched out - she suddenly couldn't feel the earth any more.

She could see the island, however. It seemed she'd been quite messy covering it - it looked less like a bubble than the aftermath of a landslide. It was far, far below the surface, and as she looked into the distance she saw no rise before so much dark water faded to blue-black inkiness, the light above failing to illuminate this far down.

Floating freely in the sea, her ghostly hair fanning behind her, she swam back toward the island. She couldn't find anything like this - her vision didn't stretch far enough. Perhaps Dashi had something to let her see through the murk? The thought struck her pride, but she endevoured to shake the feeling away. It was no good to hang onto pride and waste time, not in an emergency like this.

She phased through the warm, still settling rock that held her home together, striking through into air. But it wasn't the air over the island - no, that would be brighter. It was a different air. Deciding to test it, she deactivated the Shen Gong Wu and took a tentative breath. It seemed to be safe, if smelly... Perhaps smaller bubbles had escaped during her ordeal, and had become trapped as the rock set?

"Serpent's Tail!" she called again, and fell downward into the light.

&o

"Falcon's Eye!" she said, unused to the sensation of speaking without air. The murk now only hindered her right eye, her left being covered by the ornate eyepiece. Now she could see all the way to a wall of rock - possibly land. She lifted the Serpent's Tail above her head, letting it drag her to the surface.

She screamed with pain when the midday sun hit her eye, and almost lost her grip on the Shen Gong Wu. Looking down didn't help - the water reflected the strong sunlight. Hastily, she pressed the Falcon's eye into place, hoping that it would let her see through the glare. It did, so she took a deep breath and looked for land. There! The floating shadow of the mainland, just the same as it looked from the northern shore. _Had looked_, she corrected grimly.

Careful to keep the correct orientation, she dove down again, looking for the bubble. Now she needed a passage. It was only a few miles - surely there would be _something_.

&o

Underground was warm and comfortable, Wuya found as she swam through the rock, looking as far from the sea as possible. The more solid rock between the air and the sea, the better.

Suddenly, closer to the great heat than she had been before, she struck through into air. She let herself become solid again after checking that there was space for her whole body, and found that it was indeed a tunnel. It was almost overbearingly hot, but the air wa breathable, which would be good enough if it stretched all the way she wanted it to.

The Falcon's Eye wasn't the only extra Shen Gong Wu that she had picked up when she went back. The other would be of use now, so she dropped them and slipped her feet inside. "Fancy Feet!" she called, and ran northwards.


	11. Making Plans

Dashi paced outside the temple, waiting. He'd fixed the water clock, packed everything he thought would be useful to start life in a new country, prepared a meal and gone in to check on Chase, but still Wuya hadn't returned. It was making him very nervous. What if his Serpent's Tail failed when it was used for too long? What is she was stuck somewhere, trapped or...

He should have done more tests. Why didn't he do more tests?! He should have gone instead, or- or-

"You shouldn't worry so much."

Dashi hadn't heard Chase come up behind him.

He stopped. "I should have worried more earlier," he corrected, turning around and giving him a pained look. "If I'd worried more about bringing that Dragon home, or if I'd worried more about... well, anything, then this might not've happened at all!"

Chase offered one of the mugs he was holding, and sat down on the temple steps when it was accepted. "If you'd said 'no' about Dojo, we would have smuggled him back anyway," he said with a smile. "And Wuya won't run away - if she does find anything, she won't leave us in the dark about it."

Pausing in the motions of sitting down and inhaling the steam from his tea, Dashi groaned. "I didn't even _think_ about that!" he wailed. Candles flickered in the direction of the village, and some beast lowed in the distance. It might have been a normal night, unless you looked up and saw the 'roof'. Quiet.

"Everything seems so serious down here," Chase said reflectively. He looked at Dashi. "Don't you think? Even Wuya's worried, and she doesn't worry about anything."

Dashi smiled. "She just does things," he agreed. _Thinking of things that she's done…_ Dashi wondered if he should tell Chase. Nah. "What were you two talking about earlier, anyway?" he asked instead. "Before you collapsed?"

Chase had been opening his mouth to speak, but instead he stopped and took a sip of his tea. "I don't remember," he said softly.

"Don't you?"

"No."

"Are-"

"Yes, I'm sure." Chase frowned. "Actually, that was something she seemed worried about - as soon as I woke up she started checking my eyes and asking about the spell I used for Dojo and she wouldn't tell me anything. What _happened_ when I was out?"

"I didn't _think_ anything did…" Dashi said uncertainly. "She made this plan, but-"

Chase looked sceptical. "Wuya, planning things?"

Dashi grinned. "That's what I thought."

"What you thought about what?" Wuya asked, materialising right in front of them.

"Nothing," Dashi said quickly.

"What did you find?" Chase asked, but they were interrupted by a loud lantern before she could say anything.

"Seeing as none of the land dogs down there are of a mind to say it, I will," the owner announced. "We're wanting to know _exactly_ what you children are thinking to do about this. When's the top coming off, eh?"

"It's not," Wuya said bluntly. "We're underwater."

The man sighed. "I _know_ we're underwater _now_, but when are we going up again?"

The three Heylin Dragons stared open-mouthed at him. "How could it be possible to get an island from the bottom of the sea to the surface again?" Chase asked, eventually.

"That would be what I'm asking you."

"We... can't...?"

"Then what did you drown us for?" the man roared, losing his temper. The lantern dropped, letting them see his face. He was a fishermen from the southern side of the village, and more lantern-lights could be seen behind him, coming closer.

"I assure you, it wasn't intentional." Wuya didn't usually speak politely, so the boys gave her an odd look. "The island started to sink, and we tried to save it. That's our only part in this." When she was done, she glared at them, daring them to challenge her statement.

"Yeah," Dashi agreed, after a long moment of fighting himself.

Chase didn't want to lie outright. "We were about to discuss possible escape routes," he said, though he knew in his heart that letting a lie go unchallenged was as bad as passing it on.

"And leave the rest of us stranded here, is that right?"

Wuya laughed mirthlessly. "If we were going to do that, we could have done it hours ago!"

"So what _are_ you doing?"

"We haven't decided yet," Dashi said, trying to regain some control over the situation.

Wuya turned back to Dashi, remembering that she hadn't reported her findings yet. "There _is_ a tunnel," she told him. "It's not too far down, and it goes nearly all the way to the mainland."

The fisherman snorted. "And what are the chances of that, eh? There just _happens_ to be a tunnel that'll get us out? Ha!"

"You don't have to come with us," Chase commented, starting to dislike the loud man. He looked around the man, peering into the darkness behind him, and was relieved to see another lantern-bearer coming up the path.

The Spice Merchant stood shorter than the fisherman, but he also stood darker and balder and with more expensive clothes. "I was just wondering how that girl's doing," he said by way of introduction.

Wuya clapped her hands when she recognised him. "Full recovery!" she announced.

"That's good, that's good..." The merchant nodded. "Now, can I be offering any help with the evacuation? We've got people down there who've lost their means of living, and no-one's telling them anything worth knowing. And I'm supposing that you'll be doing more movement before anything _does_ get said, so I'm offering my services in that regard. Tell me what you want them told, and I'll do the telling."

"You trust us to make decisions like that?" Dashi asked incredulously. "We're way too young to-"

"I've seen her work, you forget," he said, indicating Wuya. "If a person can do something like that, with absolutely no regard for personal safety -" Wuya blushed "- then I think she can work out the logistics of moving a village from here to Nanhai!"


End file.
